


The Legendary Zone

by MelonEthylene



Series: The Legendary Zone [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-12-05 17:12:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11582544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelonEthylene/pseuds/MelonEthylene
Summary: Four explorers sent on a mission in an underground cave system stumble across something unbelievable. It quickly becomes the most believable part of their afternoon.fhshs I'm real excited about this au





	1. The Rise of Barry

 

His glasses started slipping down his nose. _Drat. I really need a new pair._ Both hands occupied as he tinkered with a test tube and tweezers, Barry awkwardly pushed his glasses up with his elbow.

“How long till the tide comes in?” 

“40 minutes,” came the reply in a high pitched, lilting voice. One that was on the verge of annoying but instead just came off as unwaveringly confident and amused, “Clocks ticking my dude. Better hurry up with that shrub collection.” Barry frowned, not turning around in order to keep his attention on the _moss_ that he was carefully tweezing into a vile.

“They’re not shrubs. They’re _Schistostega pennata_ , also commonly known as goblin gold. They’re a type of moss. Shrubs have woody stems above grounds and proper roots. They grow upwards and reproduce through seed dispersal. Moss doesn’t have true roots or leaves. They have rhizomes and leaf-like structures, and they grow horizontally, using spores to reproduce. This moss in particular is really quite fascinating. It doesn’t do well in lighter areas since other plants do better than it. It only does well in very dim light. Still…this is a bit too dark. One wouldn’t expect it to be able to survive in these conditions-“ a small cough interrupted him.

“Oh. Right. Uh…sorry,” he hurriedly scooped the last of the rhizomes into the jar, grateful for the darkness of the cave that hid the blush he could feel spreading across his face. With a huff he stood up, baggy rain gear swishing and knees creaking slightly.

He couldn’t help getting carried away. Never had. Their current mission didn’t help either. It was just…So Cool. As his other companions were fond of pointing out, their missions were always “So Cool”. Which was true. Ever since he’d joined the Institute of Planetary Research and Exploration… _well_ he thought, _let’s be real_ . Ever since he had _begged_ his way into IPRE, he’d been on five hair-raising primarily exploratory and somewhat scientific missions. Each had been vastly different, both the environment and the people. He’d been in a barren tundra and the muddy depths of a swamp, so high up that he couldn’t move without spots appearing in his eyes; yet all these places nonetheless teeming with life (That was, in Barry’s humble humble opinion, always the most impressive thing – the life). And finally, there was their current environment. Sure, their missions were always _cool_ \- but they weren’t always _this_.

The cave the four of them stood in was veined through with light. It was a glow that did not so much pour out of the rock as settle on it. It was not strong - Barry had had to request the crew turn off their flashlights just to be able to see it – but it was everywhere. And once their eyes had adjusted to the dark it felt blinding, all–encompassing. It spidered up the walls and carpeted the floor. And it wasn’t the only light. Water had collected in shallow pools across the ground and a similar light, though stronger and tinted blue, flecked their waters – small pools of starlight cupped by a glowing green network. Likely bioluminescent plankton deposited by the tides. It was…well…it was beautiful. All that was missing were glowing mushrooms and he could believe he was in some sort of fantasy story, goblin gold and all. This glow was the _Schistostega pennata_. Somehow growing here, in this tunnel-like cave whose entrance spent most of the time submerged under water. Which was itself something to marvel at.

The first 30 minutes of traveling through this cave had required careful slipping and sliding over smooth unblemished dark rock, the breathing of the tide having polished it for millennia. That such a tunnel could form naturally deep within the porous earth was unreal. It was gradual, but as the cave became rougher, slowly tilting up out of the greedy hands of the ocean, he’d begun to notice the moss, dull in the brightness of their flashlights. It shouldn’t have been able to survive in this cave, with so little light, and yet, here it was. The only thing he could think was that when water filled the entrance the sunlight was dissipated through the water just enough to allow the moss to thrive. He knew as well as anyone how half-baked that theory was. But he couldn’t think of any other explanation. Certainly required some exploration, good thing that’s what they were here for. He gave himself an internal thumbs up. 

“You okay there plant boy?” said a teasing voice from next to him, similar to the previous voice but less piercing, and more feminine (whatever that meant). Still fully in possession of that same self-confidence and amusement. He blushed again and cleared his throat, glancing over at the speaker. Lup was tall. Certainly taller than him, though that wasn’t saying much. Her long hair was currently wrapped up in a braid, tucked around her neck in a mess in her crumpled rainproof hoody. She stood with hands on hips, large hiking backpack swaying precariously to the side, a long red umbrella hanging off of her wrist. He still wasn’t sure why she’d brought that last thing, but she’d insisted on it. Despite the frumpy, crumbled up nature of the rain-proof clothing that she – that all of them – were decked out in she looked…he quickly looked away, face becoming hotter. _Nope_.

“Yeah, yeah,” he responded gruffly, “It’s just…” he gestured a little helplessly around them “…all this”

“Hey!” came another voice, gruff like Barry’s, though not as deep as his. “I thought _I_ was plant boy,”

“You Merle,” came Lup’s easy reply “should be kept faaar away from plants as far as I’m concerned.” Barry snickered. He didn’t know the whole story, but apparently Merle had a “history” - as they kept calling it - with plants. Merle gasped, offended. Frumpy was a good description for Merle, rain clothes or no. He was very short, shorter even than Barry. But it was more the way he acted, like a kind (but slightly inappropriate) godfather. His frizzy hair and beard didn’t help him look any less scruffy, nor the giant medical book he carried with him.

“Hey!” he said again, “I resent that, I-“

“Uh, yeah, my guys?” came the interruption. Taako. Lup’s twin brother, and the one who had initially answered Barry’s question about the tides. He looked veery similar to Lup, but it had only taken Barry a few days to be able to tell them apart. Taako, for one, tended to wear more jewelry - or, at least, more gaudy jewelry. He also wore his hair down more, though today it was in a braid similar to Lup’s. 

“I hate to interrupt this clearly important conversation,” he continued, not an ounce of remorse in his voice. “But we have like, oh 5 minutes? To start heading back safely or we may all uh, drown? So we should, you know, maybe do that? _I_ for one would like to be, not dead.”

“Shit, five minutes?” Barry glanced down into the depths of the cave. It clearly kept going. It was agonizing to think they would have to leave it and wait all that time again. He shifted from foot to foot for a second, unable to make up his mind. He knew it would be much safer to start heading back now, but just a glimpse…

“I’m just gonna really quickly take a little look ahead,” he said hurriedly, starting to speed walk his way away before anyone could stop him, “I’ll uh, I’ll be right back.” He walked a few more steps before looking back, surprised no had said anything remotely cautionary. He almost jumped to see Lup’s smirking face directly behind him.

 “Well, _of course_ we’re going to take a quick look, Mossman,” said Taako, also following. Barry glanced to his right, and sure enough there was Merle.

 He shrugged saying with a laugh, “Who else is gonna cover your guys’ butts if you get injured.”

 Barry smiled to himself. He’d worked with a few different groups on his missions, but he had to say, so far these three were his favorite. They were just his type of reckless. And, unlike him, practically nothing phased them. Everything seemed to roll off them with a few jokes, laughs, and one-liners from Taako. It made his heart light. Though there was still the awkwardness of being the newest member and unacquainted with a lot of the inside jokes and quirks of the others, it was rare that he felt left out. All three of them had a way of making you feel a part of the joke even if you had no idea what they were talking about. The twin’s teasing certainly made him flustered but he had never felt hurt or threatened by it, in the end it made him feel more a part of the group.

 Lup broke the silence (and his thought stream) first. She called to her brother, as Barry noticed she tended to do when she got too focused on something to really pay attention to what she was saying. 

“Holy shit Taako…come and take a look at this…” She was standing close to the wall and pressing her fingers against the rock. They all moved over to look where she had her hand.

“They’re…carvings,” said Merle. Barry started. Carvings? That wasn’t possible. They were the first one’s here, no one even knew these caves existed and they were practically inaccessible. But, sure enough, there in the wall were faint carvings. They were difficult to make out under the moss but they were undoubtedly not natural. In wonder he placed a finger to one, tracing the outline he could just faintly make out. Almost immediately, they began to glow. At first it was almost indistinguishable from the glow of the moss but it quickly became brighter and brighter until it was _pouring_ from the walls all around them.After getting used to the gentle glow from the moss it was blinding. _Uhhhh…_ Abruptly he felt the earth shift.

“What the –“ was all he managed to get out before the rock below them disappeared and all four of them were plunged, yelling, into the dark.

 

* * *

 

Barry came to slowly. His body hurt? And it was weirdly dim and…green. Was his room usually this color. Then, suddenly he remembered. The expedition, the cave, the moss, the carvings, the tides…the _tides_. Holy shit it was wet, he was laying in water. Holy shit. He panicked, sitting up with a splash. And stopped. There, in front of him, was something impossible. He tried and failed to grasp what he was seeing for a moment, his mind just sort of sliding of the words he knew described what he was seeing. Slowly he tried to break down what he was looking out.

First, there was a wall of green light. It was made up of a sort of thick hexagonal grid with more translucent light filling the spaces in between. Though, it wasn’t really a wall, it was more of a sphere, curving out of the ground and stretching far far into the air to contain…to contain…a giant…he didn’t really even want to think it. He had – ah, dabbled- in anime, he knew what the correct term was but he couldn’t bring himself to admit it, it was too ridiculous. That they would find here, in the depths of a cave underground, that they would find –

“A giant fucking mech cat,” came the awed, whispered voice next to him. And that is, exactly, what it was. Sitting in front of them, long segmented, metallic tail curled in front of large gleaming front paws was a huge robot of a feline. It’s yellow eyes were dull in the dim lighting in the light wall.   _Well_ , Barry thought, _let’s call it what it is: a force field_. The robot was mostly silver with dark green (What was with all the hecking green in this cave?) plating on its chest, paws, back and top of head. Faint blue glowing light pulsed from large joints in its shoulders and the side of its cheeks. It was, magnificent, and nothing like what the technology of their time was capable of making.

 He turned his gaze, dazed, to meet Lup’s. A long moment of silence dragged on as the four of them looked at each other, still sitting butt deep in water. Then, they burst out laughing.

 “What the fuck?! What…the…shit?” gasped Taako between laugher, voice pitching up and down in disbelief. “This is unreal!” On that last declaration he catapulted himself out of the water to stride over to the edge of the force field. He began inspecting it, leaning back and forth, twisting his head nearly upside down. With a splash Lup got up to join him.

“What do you think bro?”       

Taako hummed, “Well, it looks like it is exactly what it looks like.”   

Lup snorted “Think I can touch it?” Barry couldn’t see from this angle but he could clearly picture the mischievous glint in her eye. Taako shook his head emphatically.

“Absolutely not. I think you _have_ to touch it,” _Uh that didn’t seem like a very good –_

 _“_ Wait! I don’t think that’s a very good-“ Too late. Or realistically the timing didn’t matter nothing he could say would stop them. But still, something was tickling at his brain, something disquieting. Lup pressed her finger against the force field sending a faint ripple as the particles of light shifted under her touch. He waited, scarcely daring to breath. And then…nothing. Lup looked at Taako. She pressed harder. The field gave slightly, bending under the pressure, then stopped. She began to push and soon both her and Taako were pressing at various spots, searching for some sort of anomaly. With a groan, Merle stood up and shuffled over to join them. He cracked his knuckles and winked at them.

“Let me show you kids how it’s done.” He took a few steps back then charged yelling and threw himself bodily at the force field. Almost instantly he was bounced back, landing with an oomph on the rocky floor. Lup and Taako both burst out laughing and Merle grinned sheepishly, looking a little like a turtle stranded on its back “Hey, it was worth a shot!”

“That it was my guy,” said Taako, wiping tears from his eyes, “That. It. Was.”

Barry finally stood up. He felt…different. Ever since Lup had touched the force field the uneasiness inside him had begun to calcify into something unfamiliar, something lodged into his body. He had barely paid attention to the antics of the other three. It didn’t hurt. But it was uncomfortable, pressure squeezing around his heart and throat. It almost felt like he wanted to cry but there was no sadness, he was simply…enraptured. He couldn’t take his eyes off the face of the cat. Lion. The word came unbidden to his mind. Lion. And he knew it was right. Somewhere inside him needed to move closer to it. He hesitated in front of the force field, craning his neck up to look into the Lion’s eyes. It watched him passively. Watched him? That couldn’t be right. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling it was looking at _him_ …

“Barry? My man, you alright?”

He barely heard Taako, only managing the barest nod in response. He took a step forward, his nose now almost brushing the field’s surface.

“Ah,” said Merle, still on the ground and chuckling slightly, “You maaay not want to do that.”

“It’s fine,” Barry croaked, barely above a whisper. And he knew it was. He put a hand on the force field, never taking his eyes off the Lion. Instantly, the field shone that same green as the cave above. The ground began to rumble again, chips of rock falling from the ceiling.

“Oh shit!” Merle yelled, scrambling to his feet, “Not again!”

Barry paid him no mind. The lion’s eyes shone, glinted, winked? No. But…maybe…they winked at _him._ The force field began to dissolve, eating away at itself out from where Barry had put his hand. Light began to crack through the ground, illuminating carvings like from the cave above, all centering on the green Lion. And, despite all the shaking, all the noise and cacophony, everyone’s eyes were drawn to it as it, impossibly, began to move. It stood up on all fours, tail swinging behind it and shook its head, bending upwards like, well, like a cat waking up from a nap. As the lights in the ground began to fade and the rumbling stopped it swung its head to look at them, inspecting them one by one before finally turning to Barry.

His mind vibrated, and it took him a second to realize it wasn’t from shock or fear, there was actually a vibration broadcasted into (or drawn out of? He couldn’t tell) his mind. And it was, undoubtedly, happy. A purr that enveloped his mind and echoed down his bones. The Lion lowered its mouth to the ground, like it was about to scoop them up and chomp down.

“Uh Barry?” Taako’s voice came nervously from his side, not an emotion Barry was used to hearing in the ever-confident voice he’d come to know, “We good? You, uh, somehow seem to know what’s going on here? So, uh, so…we good?”

“Um…I think so…” Barry replied hesitantly “I don’t really know what’s going on but…I don’t think it wants to hurt…us…” He trailed off as the mouth of the Lion opened up in front of them.

“Great,” Merle grumbled “I’m gonna die eaten by a giant metal kitten. Excellent.”

But rather than moving forward, part of the lions lower mouth came detached and, with the hiss of decompressing air, it lowered to the ground to make a walkway straight into the metal beast’s maw. He hesitated for just a moment, nervousness dancing at his fingertips. But this pull, this urge, this need in his mind in his heart, in his body…just wouldn’t go away. So with one nervous thumbs up to his comrades he headed into the dark gullet of the Lion.

 

* * *

 

        The corridor he entered sloped steeply upwards, tilting slightly to the left. Two strips of green light guided him down it, like an airplane corridor. _Or like the cave above_ , he thought. It seemed so far away now, both spatially and temporally. Like weeks had gone by in the past 15 minutes.

Eventually, he turned a sharp corner to discover a set of doors on the right wall. As he got closer they slid open cleanly. _Automatic_. He had a sudden vision of shopping for groceries inside a giant robot. But, unsurprisingly, what revealed itself was not a grocery aisle, but…well…it could only be described as a cockpit. In the middle of the room was a plush looking chair, all white with green stripes adorning the sides. He put his hand on the corner, it felt how it looked: comfortable.

Circling the walls of the room were four giant windows that gave a front facing view. Judging by its viewing angle in the cave and how he had traveled down the corridor, Barry would’ve guessed they were in the Lion’s head. But…that couldn’t be right, there were no windows on the outside. But that was definitely the front of the lion, he could even see the hole in the ceiling the four had originally plummeted through. _So then…_ he processed… _this must be a projection, a projection of what the Lion can see._

Underneath the windows was a semicircle of a dashboard, covered in buttons and levers. The layout was a bit…weird. The chair seemed too far from the chair. So…did the pilot have to stand? Than what was the chair for? And, hadn’t the lion moved before? Had there been a pilot in here then? Or, if it could move on its own why have a pilot at all?

“Incredible!” came the familiar voice of Taako, restored in its all-confident glory. Nothing could keep him on his heels for long.

 “Lup! Check it!” he and Lup moved over to the control panel, quickly speaking in all sorts of technical gibberish Barry couldn’t hope to understand. That is basically what they were here for. Both of them were technical geniuses, and while he had asked what the point of having _two_ technical geniuses on a small discrete mission was, the mission director had just sighed. Now that he had met the two of them he understood. If they weren’t able to bounce off each other as they did now it would be…a lot to deal with. Merle and he stayed at the entrance, just behind the chair, watching the twins gesture animatedly to each other. Barry gripped the chair tighter. He felt a gentle touch on his elbow.

 “Everything okay there kiddo?” Merle asked. Barry nodded.

 “Yeah I…” He frowned, “I just really want to sit in this chair.” And he did. He really really did. Just like he had wanted to do everything else in his life so far. But this wasn’t something he had any reason for wanting, and the fact that it felt so intuitive, so natural to want something so strange and unnatural (regardless of how mundane it appeared) – it scared him. Merle shrugged, as if the answer was obvious.

 “Then get in the chair. Live your life!” At Barry’s unsure look he chuckled. “Look, your instincts have been kicking ass so far! Why think they’ve stopped now? You gotta trust your gut, otherwise, what else you got?”

 It…was true that his instincts had led them right so far. He took a deep breath and glanced at Merle again for reassurance. He sat down quickly, like if he did it fast enough it wouldn’t count. For a moment nothing happened. Then he almost got whiplash as the chair jolted forward.

 “Look out!” he exclaimed as Taako hurriedly shuffled out the way. The chair now had him poised above the console. _That explains the layout_. He looked up at everyone and smiled sheepishly.

 “I, uh, I should get up,” he said apologetically, not getting up. It felt right for him to be here, and he didn’t want to let go of that quite yet.

He instead turned his attention to the dashboard. It was really a mess of levers, buttons and switches he could not make sense of for the life of him. There were two sort of primary…thrusters? That were located in front of him. He supposed they could somehow be used to maneuver the lion but he had no idea how.

The sensation came from nowhere and everywhere at once, like the vibration from before. It echoed the strange sensations that had begun when first set eyes on the lion but _amplified._ Tremors coursed through his brain, through his _tissue_. He could almost feel the rattling of his neurons it was so all consuming and… tight. He wasn’t sure how else to describe it. It was like it was channeling through all his neural pathways with such force but so much precision. As he reeled from the – somewhat invasive – nature of the sensation, it managed to resolve itself into a roar. Somehow, he wasn’t surprised.

 “Did…did anyone else hear that?” he asked, not really expecting any affirmatives.

 “Hear what my man?” asked Taako sounding somewhat gentle, concerned. Barry couldn’t blame him.

 “I…I think I understand this,” Barry said, before he could even finish thinking it. But looking around him he knew it was true. The mess from before had resolved itself. All the connections, the organization, the wirings, it all fell into place. It seemed so obvious now.

 “You…what?” Merle laughed in disbelief.

 To answer, Barry simply leaned forward and jerkily slid the thrusters around. Following his movements the lion stepped forward and threw its head into the air, throwing everyone except Barry backwards. A few more deft movements and the lion roared. And Barry had made that happen. He had piloted the Lion. Though…that didn’t feel quite right. He was not alone when he piloted. Not in his actions, nor thoughts. He could feel a presence next to him, inside him, warm and physical and vibrating. _They_ had made it happen. They piloted. Him and the Lion, it was exhilarating. He turned to grin at his bewildered and disheveled crew mates.

 “I can pilot this mech. It uh _we_ uh can communicate.”

 Merle was the first to break the long silence after, “Communicate? …How?”

 “It um, it kinda just goes directly in my brain like these,” he fluttered his fingers, “Like these vibrations that somehow become information.”

 “Well, you know…” Lup stood up brushing herself off, “If you hadn’t done what you just did. And said you could ‘communicate’” (and of course she made the air quotes) “telepathically with a robot I would be hm…how to put this…seriously reconsidering our partnership right about now.”

 “Okaaay…” Barry replied, unsure of where Lup was going with this and whether to be concerned.

 “But!” Lup continued clapping his hands, “You did that dang thing! You piloted this mech. You! A complete technological dingus!”

 “Now hang on,” Barry protested, “I don’t think that’s fair-“ He was cut off by Taako’s hand on his shoulder. He looked at him and he gently shook his head. _Shhh. Don’t argue._ His expression clearly read. _You know it’s true. A complete dingus_. He blushed in indignation but it was true. Compared to them, and especially in the face of the technology they were currently encountering, he was a complete dunce.

 “So uh…” Merle spoke up from the back of the cockpit. He hadn’t bothered standing but was sitting cross-legged, looking quite at home. “I hate to be a killjoy here but…What next? I mean, we’re kinda…stuck in this cave. Underwater. We’re looking pretty boned here fellas.”

Almost as one the three of them turned to Barry. He flushed. _Why were they looking to him for answers? Ah heck._ He flapped his hands some and looked around the cockpit, hoping to come up with some answer. He could feel the panic rising. _Ah heck_.

“What we really need right now is information,” Lup gently interceded, “some sort of way to know where we are, or if there’s a way out, anything. Maybe there’s some kind of scan you could hook us up with?” Barry winced. He could just see the word _dingus_ written all over her face. But when he looked at her the smile was genuine, no hint of teasing. He blinked, taken aback, then shook himself.

“Let’s…see what I can do,” His fingers began to fly around the console, almost like they had wills of their own. Though, as he thought about it, it was really kind of the opposite. They hadn’t gained a separate will, he had gained a conjoined will, and together the two of them were directing his hands in order to produce what he (They? On that point he was unclear. It was immeasurably hard to separate what he wanted from what the Lion wanted from what they both wanted. He really wasn’t sure there was a difference) had in mind.

Different screens began to pop up, all with different diagrams and readouts. He skimmed through all the different readings quickly. He didn’t really understand them, but his copilot provided him with enough information on each reading that he could quickly judge if they were potentially relevant. He dismissed the unhelpful ones and, sliding what was left across various blue holographic screens, brought all the potentially useful ones into place in front of him and enlarged them.

Taako started clapping, “Bravo! I think that’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen you do.”

Barry blushed and coughed awkwardly, “Ahem yeah uh, thanks.” He turned his attention back to the selected readouts, the red that had seem to permanently inhabit his face the last several minutes finally dying down. Information flooded his brain and the graphs, figures, and charts that he _really_ shouldn’t have been able to understand clicked like puzzle pieces. To his disappointment, nothing seemed totally helpful. There was the tide charts - a worrying reminder of their situation – but nothing else. Unless…

“It…it looks like there might be a way out. This –“ He pointed to a specific readout. It was a black square, but frequent blue pings appeared, bouncing  around the screen. “-shows the echoes around us. If you uh, if you look long enough it kinda makes a room? You can see the wall outlines and stuff. But here.” He tapped one spot, one where the blue pings were very faint, “is where we landed. The water is absorbing most of the sound. More relevant is here,” He moved his finger to an area almost opposite the first. This one was completely black. “Deep water. Hopefully? It leads outside.”

“Well done my man.” Taako complemented casually.  Barry smiled. He’d been getting a lot of praise the last few minutes, it felt nice, even if a little flustering at times. There was a long pause.

“What are you waiting for then!” came Merle’s simultaneously bemused-but-anxious voice, “Let’s get out of this dank cave!”

Taako snickered “Dank…”

“Yeah, dank,” Merle replied defensively, “like wet, moist…y’know – Dank! What am I using that wrong? Youngsters these days…”

Lup snickered, “Moist…”

“Impossible,” Merle threw up his hands in exasperation but it was clear he was suppressing a grin.

“Okay, okay,” said Barry, smiling himself, though it faded as he turned back to the nerve-wracking task at hand, “This does mean…plunging underwater in a mysterious giant robot? Which, y’know, maaay not go so well.”

“Don’t see how we have much of a choice my guy,” came Taako’s response. “As they say…” Lup chimed in so they finished the sentence in perfect unison, “one potentially malfunctioning robot is better than none!”

“Wha – who says - … Never mind,” Barry instead turned his attention back to the very worrying task of piloting an unknown robot of unknown origin (of unknown waterproofing he reminded himself) into an unknown _potential_ tunnel which would, hopefully, lead to the ocean. _A potentially malfunctioning robot better than none, my ass_.

Piloting came to him as it had before, instinctively – like he’d spent his entire life training. In just a few short moves they had turned around and approached the giant pool of water, now visible in the screen as a smooth inky expanse. Like an almost perfectly round flat circle of obsidian.

“You guys may want to find something to hold onto,” he said grimly, consciously unclenching his teeth which had become gritted in anticipation. He looked around at his crewmates. They bunched closer to him, holding onto the chair. Taako and Lup gave him a creepily in-synch nod and Merle gave a thumbs up. Barry turned back to face what may well be their final resting place. He adjusted his grip on the thrusters, trying to pretend his hands weren’t shaking.

“Alright,” he muttered, mostly to himself, “Here we go.” And, not letting himself think any more about it, he took the plunge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where's the fifth member? Tune in next time to find out : ^)


	2. It's Raining Men

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hallelujah

It was dark. Too dark. Barry could barely see the controls in front of him from the dim glow of the screens, let alone anything outside the Lion. He shivered. He couldn’t stop himself from picturing them drifting into the giant maw of some sea creature’s mouth, totally oblivious to the danger, and being chomped, mashed, and torn into little pieces that would drift forever in the dark. He tried to shake the image from his head. _Stop being irrational. You know that isn’t going to happen._ But he couldn’t help the fear he felt as he gazed into the screen, hands sticky at the controls. He’d been scared of the dark until late into his teen years, his overactive imagination always hounding him with never-ending visions of sickly, horrid apparitions hovering just beyond his view. Now it was all flooding back.

“Hey Lup, I’ve got a riddle for you,” Taako intoned, seeming not to share Barry’s apprehension but instead sounding rather gleeful.

“Shoot Taako,” she replied.

“What’s better than one potentially malfunctioning robot?”

“Hm. Is it two potentially malfunctioning robots?” Lup played along.

“Nope. It’s one perfectly functioning robot!” There was a long pause.

“Huh,” Lup finally said, “Kind of a shitty riddle.”

“Don’t hate the game, hate the player,” Taako replied breezily.

Barry didn’t quite hear what Lup said back. Or, more accurately, he couldn’t hear what Lup said back. Their voices became fuzzy in the background as the whole of his attention became focused on the dark peering in at them through the screen. Normally the twins antics were successful in lightening his mood and taking his mind off whatever danger or anxiety-inducing adventure they were facing next but this time…He couldn’t. He _couldn’t_. If he took his eyes off the water in front of them, if he got distracted for a single second, something terrible was going to happen. He knew it was irrational, but as much as he tried to talk himself down the fear was mounting and mounting and mounting. It was crushing. _Just like the hundreds of tonnes of rock above and all around us right now...Oh shit._ A wave of claustrophobia washed over him. His breathing became shallow, his muscles locked as the familiar sensation of a panic attack crashed into his body. _Not now. Not-_ but there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Distantly he realized he could hear his name being called. _Dammit. I must look like such an idiot. Move damn it. You’re fine. You’re-_ It didn’t help. Panic clogged his mind, thick and heavy. Hot and cold flushed through his body. But still he couldn’t move. He knew if he so much as twitched something terrible was going to happen. He could feel it. He could just tell that something terrible was going to happen. Something terrible was going to happen. Something terrible–

A roar shook through his mind, tearing through his fear and panic. His breath caught, jerking as his muscles convulsed with the force of the noise vibrating through his nerves. It caught…then settled. His muscles relaxed. He could feel the fiery heat of a body pressed up against him, comforting him, letting his breath return to a more regular pace. He began to warm again, not in the sickly flashes like before, but a steady warmth like from a campfire. The world came into focus and he could see worried faces peering at him. It was a lot lighter too. Looking past the faces he realized there was now light cutting through the water in front of them, beaming from either side of the Lions head. Lights. Of course there were headlights on this mech.

_I should’ve noticed sooner, I should’ve looked, I’m such an-_ an angry growl cut through his thoughts and the presence at his side shifted. The Lion. The Lion had saved him. It had turned the lights on and shocked him out of his spiral, giving him warmth and presence to help him recover. He managed to laugh weakly, his heart filled with emotion. _I’ve always wanted a therapy dog, never thought I’d end up with a therapy lion._ A self-satisfied purr answered him.

“Um, Barry?” came a nervous voice. Barry looked and found Merle’s worried face, “You okay there bud?”

Barry flushed deeply. _Oh god, I really messed up this time._

“Yeah fine,” He said hoarsely, desperately praying they would drop it. The telepathic robot lion was one thing. Talking to fleshy humans about all his problems was a whole different can of worms. An apt expression, since the thought of doing such a thing made him feel like that very can of worms had been transplanted into his stomach.

“Are you sure?” came Lup’s voice. It was gentle. So gentle…the worms in his stomach writhed. “Cuz-“

“It’s nothing,” He cut in quickly, “I’m _fine_.” It was a bad lie, and both he and they knew it. But, mercifully, they all dropped the subject, backing off of him to their initial positions.

He felt a bit guilty. He knew they were disappointed that he wouldn’t confide in them, that it felt like he didn’t trust them. He did, it was just that he didn’t want them to know...he didn’t want them seeing how weak he was, how pathetic. They rode in uncomfortable silence for several minutes.

“Yo my dudes?” came Taako’s voice. Barry grimaced, hoping he wasn’t trying to continue the conversation from before. “I think it’s getting lighter.”

Barry’s heart leapt, “Really?!”

Taako tapped his temple, grinning, “This 20/10 vision don’t lie.”

“…Except when you thought you saw Jimmy Buffet at a Starbucks,” Lup muttered, just loud enough for Taako to hear it.

“Okay,” Taako said indignantly “ _That_ was real.”

“You’re telling me you saw _the_ James Buffet at a Starbucks??” Lup scoffed “What could he possibly be doing there? We all know that the only liquid that the Buffet can legally consume is margaritas and last I checked hmmm nope, no margaritas at Starbucks.”

“How should I know what he was doing there, all I know is I would recognize that tropical bastard anywhere. If you had stopped the car like I asked you would know I’m telling the truth,” Taako folded his arms.

“’Asked to stop the car,’” Lup rolled her eyes, “I don’t think yelling ‘Island Boy! Island Boy!’ and pointing out the window counts as asking to do anything.”

“Any plebeian could tell you that ‘Island Boy!’ is code for ‘I just saw James Buffet at that Starbucks could you please kindly pull over the car,” Taako gestured to himself as he continued, “It’s not _my_ fault you couldn’t understand that.”

Barry laughed to himself and briefly imagined what the court case of Starbucks suing Jimmy Buffet for having consumed their coffee instead of his legal margaritas would look like. As usual, the images conjured up from the twins conversations made him sort of feel like he was having a fever dream.

Just a few snarky comebacks later and it became clear Taako had been right. It wasn’t that much lighter (the headlights still needed to be on), but the quality of light had changed. The water was no longer jet black but barely discernibly blue and the light diffused through the water creating a faint gradation. He maneuvered the lion to look behind them. Sure enough, a little ways back was a hulking underwater cliff, presumably what they’d just swam out of, at about the time Taako had commented on the light change.

Taako puffed out his chest, “See?”

“See what?” Lup said blankly “My measly 20/20 vision can’t see anything _your_  sharp eyes can.”

Merle turned to them, “Hey, can we be a little more sensitive? Not eeeveryone here,” he nodded not-subtly in Barry’s direction and winked at them, “has good eyesight like us three.”

“Oy!” Barry frowned at Merle, “Your vision’s no better than mine!”

“I think you’ll find my eyes are much better than yours, Bluejeans. See any glasses on this face? Nuh-uh.”

“Oh yeah, _Highchurch_? Take out those contacts and we’ll see.”

“Contacts?” Merle put his hand to his heart, flabbergasted. “What contacts?”

“Don’t lie to me, I’ve seen you adjust your contacts.”

“Dust!” Merle exclaimed stubbornly, “I was, ah, I was clearing dust from my eye. Whatever you _thought_ you saw that’s what was happening.”

Lup and Taako snickered in the background at the bickering. Big mistake. Both Merle and Barry whipped around to glare at them.

“Don’t you guys start,” Barry menaced, “You and your ‘perfect’ vision need to back up.”

“Yeah! You jackasses don’t get to talk, you don’t know the struggle.” Merle put a hand to his forehead dramatically. “The pain of contacts, always drying or falling out at the worst times.”

“Ha!” Barry turned back to Merle, triumphant, “Gotcha! I-“

“Oh,” Lup interrupted, “We’re at the surface.”

Barry whirled around just in time to see the foaming bubbles of the surface whip into and streak past the glass as they burst out of the water. Their momentum carried them a little bit up and out of the water before they settled back down, the lion’s legs gently paddling to keep them afloat. The ocean stretched around them, small waves rippling from the wind and out from where they’d bobbed up. In the distance, in the direction of the cliff, was land.

“We…did it…” Barry said in awe as it finally hit. “We made it out! We’re…we’re not gonna drown in a cave!”

“Well,” Taako responded, patting Barry comfortingly on the shoulder, “There’s still plenty of time for that, I wouldn’t rule it out just yet. It ain’t over till it’s over, my dude.”

Barry snorted, “Thanks Taako.” “

No problem,” Taako smiled congenially.

“So…what now?” Merle asked, ever eager to keep things rolling.

“I would recommend getting back to land and finding our base camp,” Lup suggested, “It should be easy to figure out where we are given the systems this cat-“

“Lion,” Barry interjected.

“-Lion,” she corrected, “Sorry Barry. Given the systems this Lion has.”

“Alright!” Merle pointed out the window towards the land visible in the distance, “Scan away, Lion!”

Barry hesitated.

“What’s up Barold?” Taako asked. _Barold…why…_

“Uh, well…” He both couldn’t really believe what he was about to say and also unsure about whether he wanted to share it. He knew what the result would be. “Well,” he said finally, “I think this thing flies.”

“WHAT?” Taako and Lup exclaimed in unison.

“Yeah, well…I think it’s basically a…a…well…a spaceship. That’s the feeling I get.”

Taako and Lup stared at him for a long moment. Their eyes glinted.

“Do it. Do it. Do it,” Taako started chanting, quickly joined in by Lup, “Do it! Do it! Do it!”

Merle started chanting half-heartedly, seemingly caught between excitement at the idea of flight and nervous at the recklessness of it. Barry grimaced at them, he was resonating much more with that latter sentiment. _But you knew this was gonna happen right?_ A voice in his head chimed in. _Wasn’t telling them kinda like admitting that you want to try it out too?_ This time he grimaced at himself. The voice was right. _I’m just as much of a fool as they are huh_.

“Alright,” he said, adjusting his grip on the steering, “Let’s do it.”

Taako, Lup and Merle all cheered. His heart began to beat faster as he pressed the start up buttons for the jets, an equal measure of fear and excitement coursing through him. He was about to fly a spaceship. He, Barry Bluejeans, biologist and proclaimed technological doofus was about to pilot a spacecraft. It was exhilarating and ridiculous and…dangerous. But he couldn’t resist giving it a shot. Anxiety aside, he was quite curious by nature and much more reckless than his nervous disposition would indicate.

The Lion began to thrum as the boosters turned on. Slowly, very slowly, they began to lift out of the water. His crewmates cheered again. A grin spread across Barry’s face. They were flying! Really flying! They rose higher and higher into the air.

“Okay, okay,” Barry said, heart in his throat, “Everyone hold on.”

“Uh…” Merle began nervously, “What-“ and then they were off, Barry jetting them forward, the world in the windows blurring as he sped up. With one swift movement he jerked the steering and the view flipped. He could just make out the slick, curved back of the Lion as he did a quick concentric loop, whooping with exhilaration as he did, heart leaping in tandem with joy he knew wasn’t coming from just him. He settled back on the water, feeling the adrenaline pulse through his veins, grinning.

“That was sick my dude!” came Taako’s enthusiastic (and slightly breathless) voice. Barry started. He’d been so enraptured in his dance with his Lion that he’d totally forgotten about his passengers. For a second he felt annoyed, wishing it was just the two of them here. The others were…trespassers, here in this place made for just the pilot and the Lion. He immediately shook the feeling off, feeling mortified. It was only due to the other three that he’d had the courage to make it this far. Because he knew they were there beside him. And he’d just wished for them to disappear…

“Yeah, sick flips!” Lup chimed in after her brother, grinning. His guilt increased and he opened his mouth to apologize. Then he closed it again, realizing it wouldn’t make any sense to them and they might ask him to explain. Instead, he put on a smile he didn’t quite feel, arching an eyebrow to ask, “Ready for Round 2?”

The other three cheered in the affirmative. The grin from earlier returned quickly replacing the fake smile he’d plastered on. He gunned them forward, his companion’s whoops of joy echoing in his ears as he and the Lion twisted up, up, up from the ocean into the clear blue sky.

 

* * *

  

They flew into the evening, only stopping when hunger pangs cut through the adrenaline and excitement. They’d entered the caves about mid-morning and hadn’t eaten since, so the hunger when it hit, hit hard.

Barry hurriedly scanned and identified the base, rushing them over, grateful that he had brought snack food that could quickly ease his aching stomach while Taako prepared dinner. He landed carefully at the edge of the clearing they had camped in. The Lion lowered its head to let them disembark, giving a little goodbye nudge to Barry as he stepped off. He stumbled and blushed, earning a couple of snickers from the twins. Once they had all exited, the Lion settled forward, lifting her head up like an extraterrestrial sphinx.

Stretched out as she was Barry noticed her back for the first time. It was covered with some sort of large black shape of black metal. A shield maybe? From his angle he could just make out its half-diamond, half-curved edge of silver and some sort of gold insignia etched in the middle of the black center. Then his stomach growled and he didn’t have time to think about it anymore.

Barry beelined for the crackers he had stored in his tent and, after a mock fight with Merle wherein he eventually gave up a handful of crackers in exchange for some string cheese the four of them chowed down on their various snack foods.

Taako took a few disdainful bites of a protein bar before handing the rest off to Lup to begin prepping dinner claiming that he could “feel his vitality leaving him with every bite of that ass bar”. Lup responded with a “nothing wrong with a little ass sometimes” and quickly devoured the rest of the bar. It made Barry blush though he didn’t (stubbornly refused to) know why. He hurriedly disguised his red face by placing his water bottle in front of it and taking a big gulp, promptly choking and spraying water everywhere. His blush deepened as Lup laughed. Merle patted his back and Taako complained about missing ‘Barry’s spit take’.

They sat together for a while just like this, laughing and eating, the sounds of cooking adding a comfortable backdrop. Barry’s heart felt light, his panic attack feeling so far away now in light and warmth and companionship. It was Lup (of course) who brought it up first.

“So,” She began, leaning back in the leopard print folding camping chair she and Taako had brought a matching pair of, “How are we gonna hide Big Boy over there?” She gestured loosely at the Lion. Taako turned from the camp stove he’d been working over, frowning.

“Hide it?” He questioned, voice pitching in confusion, “What do you mean, we’re not going to hide it are we?”

Lup blinked, “Well, what do you propose?”

“We turn it in.” Taako said like it was obvious, “This tech, properly researched and investigated has the potential to create advancement in practically every field. We have an obligation to turn it in to find out more about it, to create opportunities. I’m surprised that you’re considering hiding it, you’re curious about it too aren’t you?”

Lup snorted derisively, “We don’t have an obligation to do any such thing, and _I’m_ surprised _you_ think so. This tech is…well, it’s dangerous, we don’t know what it could be used for and you think we should, what, just hand it over and wash our hands of it? Just hope that the advancements are in the right fields? In the right hands? This is big. Not like weird-space-rock big, but _world-destroying_ big. We can’t just hand it over and hope for the best.”

Barry nervously glanced between the two of them. They seemed to be bridging into a heated argument, something he’d never really seen them get into and he was at a little bit of a loss for what to do. Even more unsure because he himself didn’t really know where he stood in their debate. Taako moved closer to where Lup was sitting, gesturing animatedly.

“I’m not suggesting we wash our hands of it,” he said patiently, “but how else are we gonna figure out what the hell is going on here? We don’t know what this means, we have no idea where that thing came from. There could be more of them hidden around the planet. This could even be a sign of alien life! Or time travel! You’re right this is world-destroying and you think we should handle it just the four of us? Isn’t that a little narcissistic? Believe me, I would know.” He smirked a little at that, “We won’t get anywhere with just us working on it. People deserve to know, people that could help us.”

“People? _People_ , Taako?” Lup had gotten out of her chair at this point, not an inch of her backing down, “People are idiots. How many times do you, no, do _we_ need to relearn this? The moment the existence of the Lion is found out we won’t have any say in what happens, we won’t have any choice but to wash our hands. That tech could be used for anything by anyone and we won’t be able to do a _damn thing_ about it. And people, Taako? People are cruel. I’m sorry, I’m not backing down on this.”

“Neither am I.” Taako replied simply. They stared at each other for a long moment, eyeing each other up. Abruptly, as one, they whipped around to glare at Barry and Merle. Barry started in surprise.

“What about you two?” Taako asked. “Hide the Lion or turn it in?”

Barry paused. Logically, he agreed with Taako. It was neither realistic nor prudent to try and hide it. The consequences if found out could be grave, and he did agree that it seemed a little narcissistic to just leave it up to them. But…

“Hide it.” He decided.

“Turn it in,” said Merle simultaneously. They looked at each other sheepishly. Lup smacked her forehead.

“Damn even numbered party,” she muttered, “Why couldn’t there be three of us…or like seven.” She sighed and turned back to Taako. “Okay, I wanted to avoid this but…” She put her fist up and readied her stance. “Shall we?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Taako rolled up his sleeves and did the same: “Come at me!” _Wait_. Barry paled. _Were they about to fight?_

“Hold on-“ he started.

“Here I go!” yelled Lup. _Oh shit_. The fists came down and Barry winced.

“Rock. Paper. Scissors!” the twins said in unison. _Oh._ Barry blushed.

“Whoops,” he muttered, glancing towards Merle, “I thought uh…yeah.”

Merle laughed “I wouldn’t be so relieved there bud. In a way this is muuuuch worse.”

“What do you mean?” Barry frowned. By way of explanation Merle simply pointed. As Barry looked, he realized that Lup and Taako were playing round after round of rock-paper-scissors at blistering speed.

“Why are they - oh,” They were playing multiple rounds because, impossibly, they were tieing each time. Over and over, they kept throwing out the exact same sign.

“Freaky…” Barry muttered. Merle full belly laughed at that.

“Oh yeah. We’re in for a wild ride on this one.”

Barry snorted. “Well, I still think it’s better than fist fighting. Besides, they can’t keep this tie up forever.”

 

* * *

  

“I shouldn’t have said that huh,” Barry groaned, leaning back on the log he and Merle were sitting on to look up into the sky, eyes tired from 15 minutes of watching the dueling twins hands flashing their matching signs at unbelievable speeds.

“Nope!” Merle laughed, “You taunted Lady fate and she taunted you right back. Sucks to suck, Bluejeans.”

Barry grunted in agreement, moving his head to rest in his palm and going back to watching the never-ending duel. Suddenly, Merle gripped his arm.

“What?” He squinted at the twin’s hands, “did someone win?” But they were still playing with the same manic intensity as the past 20 minutes.

“Uh noooo,” Merle confirmed, “There’s…a thing.”

“A thing?” Barry questioned, getting nervous, “What thing?”

“That thing.” Merle pointed into the sky, a weird expression on his face. And, looking where Merle was pointing, he could understand why. There was something falling from the sky. It looked like a shooting star, or an asteroid burning through the atmosphere but it was quite big and glinted in a way that was, undoubtedly, metallic. Barry stood quickly. It didn’t seem like a coincidence that some strange metal object would be falling from the sky the same day they happened to find some strange metal robot underground. And, whatever this thing was, they were definitely not the only ones to have spotted it. If they wanted any information about it before the jaws of whatever government or organization closed around it they would need to act now, and fast. He ran towards the Lion, she perked up her head to look at him, eyes flashing at the ready. As he ran he called back to Merle.

“Get the twins on board!” then he ran into the Lion. He began pressing buttons before he’d even sat down. He gave them a second to get on board then turned the screen on and focused it on the falling object, starting scans and trying to zoom in. He didn’t turn around when he heard the doors slide open and three pairs of footsteps enter. Which was definitely why he jumped when Lup suddenly appeared right next to him to peer at the screen. _Close_.

“Any luck?” she asked. He tried to subtly lean a little farther from her, flushing just a bit. He coughed. _Get it together._

“Not really. It’s…some kind of metal capsule but I’m having trouble focusing on it and zooming in to see what exactly.”

“Mind if I…” Lup gestured to the controls.

“Oh.” Barry was a little taken aback. The idea of someone else piloting the mech made him…uncomfortable, and he could tell from the shifting in his mind that the Lion felt the same. It was Lup though, someone who he trusted and who was far more experienced with technology (to say the least) than he. The mental guidance the Lion gave him could only cover for so many actual gaps in his knowledge.

“Uh, yeah I guess,” He said finally. The Lion grumbled disapprovingly, but he knew she understood and would go along with his reasoning. _Thank you._ A grudging purr answered him.

“Well now, _that_ …is really not good!” Lup said matter-of-factly after some tinkering. _Uh oh._ They all crowded in. “So, I managed to stabilize the sight and have it track the thing as it falls so I could zoom in,” she began casually, so easily achieving something Barry had struggled with so much. But she wasn’t done, “I aalso put on a thermal sensor just to see if I could. I can, of course, and I’m glad I did. It’s not a capsule.” Lup paused (dramatist through and through). “It’s a pod. An _occupied_ pod.”

Merle chuckled in disbelief, “What? You’re saying there’s a dude in there?” Lup nodded grimly, sobering Merle up. “Well shit…this has gotten to be one bonkers afternoon” he muttered.

“Amen Merle.” Lup nodded in agreement before continuing, “And from my calculations it doesn’t stop there. It’s…not looking good for whoever’s in there. Of course I’m not sure about the metal so I cooould be wrong…But I doubt it.”

“What?” Barry asked, confused.

“What she’s saying,” Taako explained as if Barry’s dingus-ness was finally showing through, “is that they’re going too fast. At that speed it doesn’t matter what safety harness thingy they have in there, whoever’s in there will die when they hit the ground.”

“What?” Barry exclaimed, turning to look at the pod, trying to picture what it must be like inside there, fire burning outside the windows, ground steadily closing in. He shivered, vertigo and worry twisting in his mind. Merle on the other hand, seemed unfazed, now wearing a face of practiced grim determination.

“What can we do?” The doctor asked simply.

Lup hummed in response, thinking.

“We could try and slow them down…” she said finally, “but I don’t think we’ll have enough time to slow ‘em down enough…unless…” She and Taako snapped their fingers and pointed at each other at the same time.

“Unless!” Taako echoed triumphantly. The twins grinned at each other then got serious again, Lup turning to do some final calculation on the screen in front of Barry.

“Okay Barry.” Lup shut the last of the calculations down, centering the screen back onto the pod as it plummeted down, now about halfway to the ground from when they’d last seen it. She gripped the chair next to his shoulder, readying for take off. “Here’s the plan.”

 

* * *

  

The plan was relatively simple at its base: slow down the pod as much as possible using the Lion before softening its landing by changing its trajectory to be into water at an angle. Lup and Taako had calculated a bunch of precision measurements and angles but to Barry it really seemed to come down to luck. Though the concept of “luck” struck Barry as an odd thing to try and apply to this situation. Was it luck that the four of them stumbled across a strange robot in the cave? Was it luck that the Lion wanted to (could?) communicate with him? Was it luck that put a person in a pod crashing on earth, some error or malfunction causing an imminent brush with death? Barry didn’t know. It was all so…convoluted.

_Then again_ , he thought, everything in the universe had been brought about by a combination of luck and selection, so maybe it was appropriate that it was luck saving the day once again, regardless of the mess it had already made. The trajectory of the pod put it close enough to the water that the necessary angle would be possible. That was all it came down to in the end: a few feet of beach separating life and death.

Other than Barry’s tumultuous thoughts on fate and fortune, the plan proceeded surprisingly smoothly. Barry jetted to the pod, angling himself alongside before slowing down just enough to place himself behind it. He gently gripped the sides of the craft with all four of the lion’s great claws, careful to match his speed so as not to lose his grip or tear through anything.

Ever so gently he repeatedly activated the reverse jets, slowly slowing them down. Too fast and the Lion’s claws would tear through the metal, or come unattached, too slowly and regardless of the trajectory change even hitting the water could be deadly for the passenger inside. Lup and Taako were constantly dictating in his ears, for once no bickering or teasing entered their stream of thoughts as they constantly gave him signals and directions. Thrusters on. Thrusters off. Start dragging it backwards, towards the water. Slower. Faster. Finally:

“Let go!” They yelled in unison. Barry released the pod drifting up above it as he slowed his speed.

“Get alongside it.” Taako urged. Barry obliged, lining himself up next to it, facing the water. Lup tapped the screen in front of him a few times, marking a specific spot on the pod.

“Push there…Now!” She commanded. Barry and the Lion pushed, kicking their back legs at the spot and springing off the side of it to try and get as much quick force as they could. The bottom of the pod angled away and Barry turned the Lion around just in time to see it slice into the ocean, huge walls of water rising up from either side. Steam billowed off the surface of the water, and wind whipped around the Lion, water flecking her body and eyes. She shook herself, clearing her vision. Then they jerked forward, rushing to where the pod had disappeared under the surface.

“Will it float back up?” Merle asked.

“No.” answered Lup, Taako, and Barry in unison.

“Oh, ok…my bad.” Merle mumbled to himself. Taako turned to him, unable to resist a chance to ‘teach’ as he would put it (to show off was more accurate) regardless of the urgency of the situation.

“Allow me to enlighten you Merle…” Barry tuned him out as he began to explain water displacement and upthrust and instead steeled himself to dive back in the water.

One long lecture later (where Merle was now openly grimacing and Taako was gleefully dragging on the explanation as long as possible) and Barry had managed to pull the pod out of the water and onto the beach. Once it was all the way out of the water the four of them quickly scrambled out of the Lion and down onto the sand.

Now that the immediate crisis was over Barry could actually take in the pod itself. It was…decidedly not of Earth origin. It was sleek and black, and about the size of a small school bus. Strips of glowing light stretched up it’s middle top and paneled either side. As he watched the light churned, slowly dissolving into a multitude of colors that each danced and writhed before again breaking apart. It should have been…beautiful, but something about it made him uneasy. There was nothing serene or calming about the light show, it felt fierce, vicious, competitive. He glanced back at the Lion. While she and the pod were certainly very different in both color and feel, something about their aesthetic was similar…Not siblings, but maybe second cousins. His unease grew.

They all stood and stared for a long moment, processing this second impossibility that had appeared before them in just one afternoon. Slowly they began to wander towards the pod, silently drifting in different directions to examine it closer. He broke the silence first. Regardless of his unease, there was still someone ( _or_ _something_ the paranoid part of his brain reminded him) inside, potentially injured and potentially dying.

“Uh, how are we going to get inside this thing?” He rapped the side of the pod with his knuckle, letting a dull metal thud echo across the beach. Taako, who was the only one still in eye line, rolled his eyes.

“The door, duh.” He gestured at the bulge at the top of the ship. “It’s a, a hatch of some sort, clearly, a door. We just need to open it and voila! Simple.”

“Yeah…” Barry muttered so Taako couldn’t hear him, “simple.”

“Hey guys!” came Merle’s excited voice from the other side of the pod. “I found the door!”

“Sorry to say my dude but you most certainly did not, that honor was already taken by me,” Taako called back, already striding over, Barry hurriedly following.

“Then whadya call _this_!” Merle answered, puffing out his chest and gesturing to the ship with both arms as Taako and Barry came around the corner. From what Barry had seen of the ship falling compared to how it was now this was probably the back of the ship. It was the widest part, the body of the pod having gone from pointed on the front to a big rectangle at the end where they were standing. On either side of the body of the ship were two smaller vertical rectangles with what appeared to be slats forming vents inside, conceivably the jets. It was the body of the ship that Merle was showing off.

“A very good question, Merle,” Taako replied, examining Merle’s “door” with a look of skepticism bordering on disdain. “What is that?”

Merle huffed, “It’s clearly a door! You know it goes like rrrrrr and opens horizontally along that line there.” Merle put his hands flat as he talked, one on top of the other and slid them apart to demonstrate. There was indeed a line that ran through the middle of the back of the ship Barry noted, so he could kinda picture what Merle meant.

Taako scoffed, “A door opening horizontally? Really? We’re talking about space beings that have constructed an effective means of space travel out of an unknown, highly advanced alloy, and thrown in an 80s light show for good measure and you think they would have the door open horizontally? No way josé!”

Merle crossed his arms. “Okay fine, what’d do you think then huh? If you’re so smart, where’s the door?”

“Cleaaarly,” Taako replied, drawing out the word, “the top part is a hatch that opens up. This back part is…” He waved his hand dismissively, “for decoration or something.”

“Cleaaaarly your tech degree is for decoration,” Merle stuck out his tongue. Taako gasped dramatically, then drew himself up to his full height, towering over shorter-than-average Merle.

“Oh it’s _on_ little man!” He exclaimed.

“Guys!” Barry interrupted. As enjoyable as it was to watch them fool about he had to keep reminding himself there was real, important work to be done. “Forget the doors, there’s still someone in there! Even if we pick a door how on earth would we get it open?”

“Well,” chimed in Lup’s voice from behind them. She’d paced her way slowly around the pod, finally coming around to rejoin the group. “With the right equipment and some time, me and Taako could crack this baby open, no probs.” She gave a thumbs up.

“Uh,” came Merle’s response. Barry looked at him, but Merle wasn’t looking at them. _Not again._

“Time might be a teeny little bit of a problem.” He was, for the second time that day, pointing to the sky with a strange look on his face. Barry followed where his finger was pointing, a mixture of apprehension and bemusement churning in his stomach. It was immediately obvious that they weren’t in the same situation all over again. There was no strange meteor falling from the sky, nothing burning through the atmosphere. There was, however, a lot of crafts speeding very low to the water towards them.

They were far enough away that he couldn’t make out what crafts they were exactly (or who owned them) but, in the end, that didn’t matter. If they were caught before they had a chance to rescue the pod’s passenger that would be it. Both the lion and this parallel mystery would be gone. It would be taken out of their hands quite literally. They were a part of this now, Barry felt a part of this now, and it would be agonizing to watch it all get snatched away. He suspected Taako, despite his arguments to the contrary, might feel that way now too. He glanced back at the lion, its eyes glinted at him.

“Okay,” He said, “Okay, I know what to do. Everyone back up. Like reeeaaally back up. This is gonna get...a little risky.” He sprinted back to the lion. Checking once over his shoulder to make sure everyone was getting out of the way.

“No, further Merle! Further!” He yelled and watched as the dwarf shuffled to where Taako and Lup were standing a very safe distance away. “Yeah! That’s good.” He got a glimpse of Taako’s _I told you so_ smirk as Merle joined him before he turned back around and jogged up the already too familiar walkway of the Lion’s mouth. As he sat down at the pilot’s seat he hesitated.

“Alright girl,” He said aloud, “You up for the challenge?” An enthusiastic growl was his response. He smiled and reached down for the controls, letting his instincts (the Lion’s instincts really if he was being honest) guide him. He maneuvered the Lion to face the pod, firmly planting her back claws in the sand. Then slowly reached a front foot to the back of the raised part of the pod, extending a talon. It pressed against the metal. _Oh shoot._ He realized. _I don’t even know if this can puncture_ , but even as he thought it he felt an abrupt give as the claw punctured through, creating a fairly sizeable hole in the top of the ship. He turned the claw to slice a crescent following the back of the “hatch” as Taako believed it to be. Once it seemed big enough he grabbed both sides of the pod with the Lion’s front paws, and lowered her head to bite onto the raised edge of where he’d cut through. Big metal teeth crunched into the pod’s roof and slowly, slowly he began to pull up, gently tearing the roof off.

It worked! He breathed a sigh of relief as the last of the roof came off and he tossed it behind them. _I should’ve known_. He thought affectionately at the Lion. A satisfied purr shook his teeth.

“Okay. Okay,” He laughed, “We’re not done yet though.”

Together, he and the Lion peered through the top of the pod. The passenger was easy to spot, strapped into one of the two chairs at the cockpit. He was (or at least looked) human. A fairly buff human at that. Not only that but he looked…rough. Even from this distance Barry could tell the man was really beat up. Beat up in ways that seemed beyond crashing-into-the-ocean-in-a-spaceship. In ways that seemed old, ways that seemed ingrained.

“Jesus,” he whispered. He hurriedly reached down with one giant claw to wrap around the chair and, in one swift pull, he wrenched it up from the floor. He winced as he saw the man’s head jerk with the sudden motion. As smoothly as he could manage he lifted the man and chair into the air to deposit him on the ground next to Merle. He held his breath and watched as Merle sprang into action, quickly removing the passenger’s straps and recruiting the twin’s help to set the man gently down in the sand.

Merle began to methodically examine the man. _Oh god_ , Barry thought, heart growing cold, _What if he’s_ …He bit his lip, trying not to think it. A long moment went by…then Merle looked up, a relieved smile on his face.

He gave a thumbs up before yelling so Barry could hear, “He’s uh, not doing great,” Merle chuckled, “I mean look at the poor guy.” He coughed and tried to regain the composure of a professional. No one bought it. “But he should be okay, he’s stable, not at risk of dying at least.”

Now that the danger had passed Taako coughed loudly, drawing all attention to him. He waved dramatically at the torn roof of the pod.

“See?” he exclaimed triumphantly, “A hatch!” Barry and Lup burst out laughing while Merle chuckled, now examining his patient more closely, muttering notes to himself.

“Uh, Merle,” Barry reminded, anxiety rushing back as he caught a glimpse of the ships. They couldn’t have been more than 20 miles away at this point and were closing in fast. There was no response. _Oh right_. He scrambled for a second before finding the broadcast button.

“Uh,” He tried again, the other three looked up at him. “Maybe examine him once we have him on the Lion?” Then, to reemphasize, “We need to get the hell out of here.”

He leaned the Lion’s maw forward as the three of them struggled to lift the pod’s passenger, Taako and Lup both looking _supremely_ displeased about the situation and the straining of their muscles. As soon as they had all settled into the cockpit, Barry gunned it into the air and away from the ships closing in, staying as low to the ground as he dared.

“Hey…” Taako pondered, “I think I know this fool...”

“Not really the time Taako!” Barry exclaimed, “they _definitely_ saw us. What the heck do we do now?”

“Stay low,” Lup chimed in, “That was a good move”

Barry nodded at her. They began to tilt up towards the sky.

“No. _Low_ , Barry. The opposite of what you’re doing?”

“This, this isn’t me!” He protested, jerking at the controls. A growl echoed through his mind and they increased speed, shooting up towards the atmosphere. The Lion was…angry, and unfathomably determined. It was...scary. It felt like communication had broken down, they’d been working in tandem but suddenly something was happening that he didn’t understand, he couldn’t understand. He knew the anger wasn’t directed at him. It was pointing…upwards, in the exact direction they were now headed.

“It’s the Lion! There’s…” He gulped and looked at the others, “There’s something up there…”

No one really had anything to say to that. How could they? They just stared back with the same frozen expression he probably wore.

Heat began to build up on the outside of the Lion, trails of it licking her flanks. Taako laughed, just a hint of hysteria in his voice.

“Well my dudes,” he chuckled, “Guess we're going to space.”

 

* * *

 

Rumbling soon drowned out any noise, and Barry was forced to squint as the shaking intensified. Then, just like that, there was absolute stillness. The Lion drifted forward, ink black and dusty stars unfurling around them. Barry glanced behind them in time to see the shining curvature of the earth pass out of view.

“Holy shit!” Merle chuckled in disbelief and awe. Barry nodded in agreement. He’d genuinely believed he’d hit a point where he couldn’t be shocked by the next place this wild afternoon would take him, but the Lion kept proving him wrong. Space was just one of those things you quietly accepted you would never see, like the top of mount Everest, or a really expensive play about an important historical figure. Space was something no one ever got to without _years_ of working for it, it almost felt like cheating that he’d somehow managed it in just an afternoon.

He and the Lion sensed it at the same time. Something approaching. Something the Lion did _not_ like. Though while she knew exactly what it was, he had no idea. He whipped his head to the front, straining his eyes to see in the black-violet sky as the Lion tensed mentally.

“Something’s coming,” he warned, gripping the controls.

It appeared from nowhere. First, there was nothing, then he blinked and suddenly looming over them was a ship. Though ‘ship’ seemed like an inappropriate word. ‘Ship’ brought to mind large but ultimately manageable vehicles; ones that could hold anywhere from 3 to 20 people. This was no ship. Unbidden, Darth Vader’s theme song began to play in his head.

This…craft…could hold thousands of people, easily. It was all angles and jutting wings, forming a sort of hooked 3-dimensional T. And it was jet black, blacker than even the space all around it. It struck Barry as even blacker than the deep sea cave that had led him to a panic attack. It was like it absorbed light. And yet, it glowed as well. The same churning, multicolored lights as on the pods streaked the craft’s sides and front, casting long stretches of worming, dancing shadows.

“Okaaay…maybe it’s just me and this freaky afternoon we’ve been having, but that thing just looks evil. Am I right or am I right?” Lup said into the silence.

“You’re right,” came a deep, gruff unfamiliar voice from behind them. “It looks evil cuz it is.”

The three of them whirled around. The man from the pod was now standing, though leaning heavily on the console to do it and clutching his side, staring at the ship on the screen with a mixture of fury and…sadness? Fear? Barry couldn’t quite tell.

His assessment of the man from a distance had been accurate: he looked rough. Scars and bruises ran up his exposed arms, all of varying freshness. A large cut streaked his thigh, and though it wasn’t bleeding anymore it was still freshly red. His brown hair and sideburns were tangled and matted, and several scars crossed his face, the largest extending vertically over his right eye. He had bruising around his forehead, and the way he was clutching his side did not look good.

The most striking injury however was a deep, dark bruise that curved around his left eye, even staining the eye a dark color, giving the unnerving effect of one normal light blue eye and one literally black eye. Black? That wasn’t the color of a normal bruised eye…It took him a second to realize that not only was the eye black but a ring of light purple hovered in its middle, like an iris. Then it flicked as the man changed his gaze and everything clicked into place. It was an iris. The eye was _mechanical_. It wasn’t dark bruising around the corner, it was black, metallic plating embedded into the skin. And the eye itself…Barry quickly looked down, suddenly aware of how he must be staring.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” Taako announced, throwing his hands up in exasperation, “I present…Plot twist number two! Up next, one of us is actually half alien! Stay tuned.”

Lup snorted at that then approached the man. “You know em?” she jerked her head to indicate the rainbow Death Star. The man nodded.

“I…I escaped them.”

“You were abducted by aliens??” Merle butted in.

“Yeah,” The man frowned, “I don’t remember…much. But I do know this: Those aren’t ‘aliens.’” He made air quotes with the hand that wasn’t helping to hold him up. “They’re monsters, they’re abominations. They’re ruthless demons who destroy everything in their path. They’ve spread across the universe, conquering and burning and…devouring.” He took a deep breath. His voice had started to shake from anger and pain. “They’re after something. A weapon that will make them unstoppable…something called Voltron.”

At that name the Lion roared, both outside, stretching her robotic head forward, and in Barry’s mind. The sound echoed into space defiantly, puny in the face of the might of the monsters’ ship. Nonetheless the Lion stood at the ready, facing off against the impossibly huge craft.

“Guys?” Barry tentatively began, “I think this Lion _is_ Voltron.”

“Yeah…” Lup winced, “I think we kinda got that memo Barry my dude.”

“Aha!” Taako hit his palm with his fist in realization before he pointed at their mysterious guest. “I knew you were familiar! You’re Magnus! You’re infamous! Your mission was what hooked me up with the IPRE. Thanks for that my man. Or, I guess, thanks for really botching that one and being all over the news.”

Magnus chuckled lightly and saluted weakly with a finger, “No problem.” He paused. “Though, as you probably figured out now, I didn’t fuck up our mission.” He pointed at the craft facing them. “They did.”

Merle looked confusedly between Taako and Magnus. “Huh? What mission? What are you guys talking about?”

As Taako opened his mouth to respond a yowl of warning suddenly cut through Barry’s mind. He whirled around just in time to see a bolt of white light come flying at them. He jerked at the controls, sending them flying out of the way before he was able to steady them. He heard everyone grunt as they picked themselves back up off the floor and a groan of pain that he assumed was Magnus. He didn’t have time to check on them though.

“BRACE!!” He yelled, hoping to give them a bit more of a warning this time as they again careened out of the way. He began to leap through the sky, dodging and weaving. The screen in front of him lit up with radars and signals telling him where the missiles were coming from and he could feel the Lion helping guide him through the air but he could tell it wasn’t enough. There was a jolt as a laser hit one of the rear legs and the Lion spun out before he was able to straighten out again. Through the panic and concentration fogging his mind he managed to make out Lup. She was standing next to him now and talking to him.

“Away from Earth!” she kept repeating, “Get them away!” He nodded, not able to even look at her or say anything. He increased his speed, focusing less on dodging now then putting as much distance as he could between him and the ship, flying diagonally away from their planet. He felt them get hit again, and alarms started to sound. She could take a beating, but not that much.

Then he remembered the shield he’d glimpsed when they’d landed at camp. He heard a beep of warning from the radar, and rather than trying to dodge out of the way he curled forward, hopefully hiding most of the Lion’s body behind the shield like structure. He heard a ding as the beam hit the shield, but it didn’t seem to do more damage or rock them nearly as much as the other hits had. _Okay, good. That’s helpful_.

“What…” came Merle’s voice. They had manage to put enough distance from the ship that the firing had calmed down, at least for the moment. “…is that?” Barry glanced out the window. There was a planet drifting by on their right. They were casually floating by a planet… _absurd_ , he thought, _absolutely absurd_. He mentally flipped through his head. The planet was mostly white, though some of it was dusted a bright crimson red. This planet would be…

“Pluto.” Lup said in a matter-of-fact voice that conveyed just how ridiculous she found the words she was saying, “That, Merle, is Pluto.”

“We reached the edge of our galaxy…” Barry murmured, processing what she was saying, “In a matter of seconds?”

“Uh-uh” Merle nodded, not seeming really that interested in this frankly extraordinary phenomenon. “And what…” he continued, “is _that_?”

Barry turned to look back ahead. Coming up in front of them was a huge purple vortex. There was really no other way to describe it. It was ringed with a bright blue border that looked caught between technological and runic. Within this border stars and space seem to swirl and suck inward like a whirlpool. And he…wanted to go in. It called to him, just like the Lion had.

“That, Merle, is…” began Lup, just then turning to look, trailing off as she caught sight of what Merle was asking about, “…oh. Okay. Sure. Why not.”

“Ladies and gentlemen!” Taako began again, incredulity clear in his voice. Everyone groaned as he began the bit again, “I present-” They rocked as a laser hit them.

Barry swore. The aliens were catching up.

“Listen! I think the Lion wants us to go into that thing.” He could feel them staring at the back of his neck. “I don’t know what it is or where it goes but…I trust her.” No one responded. “I trust her…” He said again lamely. He jerked back and forth a few times, narrowly dodging a couple of shots as the ship chasing them got closer.

“I mean fuck it,” came Taako’s lilting voice, “there’s not much left for us back there, this is much more exciting.”

“Agreed.” Barry could hear Lup’s smirk in her words, “Been there done that, let’s see what’s next!”

“Aw hell,” Merle finally grumbled, “You guys are all idiots, I can’t leave you to wander into the unknown universe unsupervised now can I?”

There was a long pause.

“Oh,” Magnus realized, “My turn? Uh I didn’t prepare anything, let’s see…” He thought for moment then, “Let’s get this party started!”

Taako laughed, “I like this guy!” He said.

“Once more!” Barry began as he gunned them forward, “Once more unto the br-“

“NO!!” everyone yelled back, and they were sucked into the vortex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof sorry that took so long...I've come to accept that this is probably about as fast as I can work, despite my dreams of a weekly update schedule...so! I will try and post a chapter about once a month, faster if I'm able : ) Hope ya'll enjoyed!


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